US President Donald Trump escalated a growing trade war with China by unveiling plans today to impose 10 per cent tariffs on an additional US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

China vowed to protect its interests, countering any United States tariffs imposed on its goods with a mirror response.

"If the USA loses its senses and publishes such a list, China will have to take comprehensive quantitative and qualitative measures", according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce.

It gave no details.

He called the move retaliation for Beijing's decision last weekend to raise tariffs on 50 billion dollars' worth of US products.

Washington's use of USA bilateral trade deficit figures alone with China and its other trade partners as a justification for raising tariffs fails to account for important benefits that actually mean the overall economic relationship favors the United States, experts said.

Asian stock markets fell following Trump's announcement. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each dipped by almost one percent.

Over the past week the Trump administration and the Chinese government have traded promises of new and greater tariffs on an array of goods.

During the final stage, a prolonged trade war will be "affecting the growth rate by significant margins" and lead to a collapse of global trade, Huang said. "The economics already seemed tight, so I can't imagine you could stack both those tariffs and continue manufacturing competitively in the U.S". -Chinese trade means Beijing doesn't import enough American goods to match Trump's latest threat.

China's tariff threat caught U.S. producers off guard because it had been discussing buying more USA energy and agricultural products to reduce its US$375 billion trade surplus with the United States. Apple has reportedly been anxious about retaliation from China.

Chinese regulators also have the option of broadening their retaliation by tying up American companies in tax or anti-monopoly investigations or by denying or revoking licenses.

Trump said that he had ordered US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to identify a second tranche of goods imported from China for tariffs of 10 per cent.

Beijing has accused the United States of "extreme pressure and blackmailing" and vowed to retaliate after Trump threatened more tariffs on $200bn of Chinese products.

Economists warn Washington might be undercutting its negotiating position by alienating potential allies.

Neither side has yet imposed tariffs on the other in their growing dispute over technology and the US trade gap. Tokyo was 1.8 percent lower while Seoul was down 1.5 percent. "But the United States will no longer be taken advantage of on trade by China and other countries in the world".

Trump has taken direct aim at Beijing's industrial policies by targeting tariffs at goods the White House benefit from them. While the US$50 billion in tariffsalreadyannounced on Friday were mainly on industrial goods, the broader move would push up prices for toys, tools, t-shirts and a lot more for usa shoppers.

U.S. President Donald Trump has unleashed another attack against Canada, accusing this country of so unfairly charging duties on U.S. goods that Canadians are driven to smuggle consumer items across the border between the two countries.